It was a happy night for Padres fans last night as our boys stood on the winning side of a pitcher's duel, securing themselves their first series win in almost a month.
Jason Marquis pitched 6.1 scoreless innings and a bullpen trio of Joe Thatcher, Luke Gregerson, and Huston Street came in to preserve the shutout. Marquis gave up six hits and four walks while striking out four. Thatcher, coming off a game in which he gave up a ninth-inning home run and a double, redeemed himself when he came to the mound last night. With our Padres up 1-0 in the 7th, and the bases full of Mariners, Thatcher got Ichiro Suzuki out on a forceout and followed it up with a strikeout to Dustin Ackley to end the inning. Huston Street closed the game with a 1-2-3 inning to earn his seventh save.
Seattle's pitching fared almost as well. Starter Hector Noesi, coming off a couple of rough outings, took a shutout into the seventh inning. That was when he made a costly mistake. Yonder Alonso hit one out of right field to lead off the inning, and that one run turned out to be the difference in the game. The Mariners bullpen pitched two scoreless, but their offense couldn't come through.
Last night's win marked the Padres first series win since they played the Angels in May. It also marked the first time this season that they've won consecutive games on the road. As much as it pains me to say, interleague play is turning out to be our Padres' saving grace.